Decisions, decisions for Scott Brown

Sunday

Dec 16, 2012 at 6:00 AMDec 16, 2012 at 7:24 AM

John J. Monahan Mass Politics

U.S. Sen. Scott P. Brown’s votes on any fiscal cliff avoidance package in the Senate will draw intense scrutiny in light of prospects that U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry will be nominated by the president to replace outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mr. Brown, who has signed on to Grover Norquist’s pledge not to raise taxes, found that no tax-hike commitment controversial during his failed re-election bid this year and it stood in contrast to his claims of partisan independence.

If the House of Representatives goes along with an income tax rate hike on wealthy earners sought by the president, Mr. Brown will have to choose between breaking the pledge or taking the chance of appearing excessively partisan.

It seemed clear from his speech on the Senate floor last week that Mr. Brown would like to return to the Senate. If Mr. Kerry leaves his seat, Mr. Brown is widely expected to run again for the Senate in a special election, possibly next summer, to decide who will serve out Mr. Kerry’s term, which expires in 2014.

It’s possible Mr. Brown could end his term and leave Washington without having to take that controversial vote if House Republicans continue to refuse to raise income tax rates on those making more than $250,000.

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Two local Democrats will be among the 11 electors meeting at the Statehouse tomorrow as the state’s Electoral College delegates gather to cast the state’s official votes for president and vice president.

Diane Saxe of Grafton and Paul Giorgio of Worcester, both longtime Democratic activists, are among the electors who will be sworn in by Gov. Deval L. Patrick and cast separate ballots for president and vice president. They will all be voting for President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden because the Democrats won Massachusetts with 60 percent of the presidential vote.

After the ballots are tabulated and the results announced, the votes are sent to the president of the U.S. Senate, the U.S. archivist and the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts.

Ms. Saxe was elected by the delegates as president of the Massachusetts Electoral College and as such has had to assign the ceremonial rolls for the process, including making the actual nominations for the president and vice president before the vote. She also has arranged seating for VIPs who attend and plan out the minute by minute proceedings for the formal process in the House Chamber.

But when the U.S. Constitution was put together no one planned ahead for hungry delegates. As a result it also fell upon Ms. Saxe and other delegates to do some fundraising to cover the cost of a lunch and reception.

Mid-term turnover at the top of the Patrick administration last week that saw half of the governor’s Cabinet depart was cause for wide speculation on whether the governor was pushing two agency secretaries out the door.

He says no. But it seemed apparent to many that the exit of JudyAnn Bigby, secretary of health and human services, and Mary Beth Heffernan, secretary of public safety and homeland security, came after both ran into recent political controversy.

Bigby oversaw the agency that ran the state drug testing lab where a rogue chemist’s mishandling of evidence has put thousands of drug cases in jeopardy. She also has been criticized for a meningitis outbreak that killed at least 36 people and has been linked to contaminated injectable compounds from a Framingham company that was to be regulated by her agency.

Heffernan got tied up in the patronage controversy over her hiring of Sheila Burgess as Highway Safety director despite a terrible driving record and no experience in the field. The governor praised both Bigby and Heffernan’s work and said the controversies did not cause them to leave his administration. But many observers saw it as a practical decision that will allow the governor to move past debate over their roles in the two scandals.

Worcester’s presence at the governor’s Cabinet meetings will be lessened with the exit of Education Secretary Paul Reville of Worcester.

But another Central Massachusetts figure will join the governor’s Cabinet to replace Dr. Bigby and take on the challenge of straightening out the drug lab problems.

That’s John W. Polanowicz of Northboro, the new secretary of health and human services.

For eight years he ran Marlboro Hospital as its president and chief executive officer and was once a vice president of operations for UMass Memorial Medical Center.

He is currently president of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and has an MBA from Stanford University and is a former commander in the U.S. Army.

His wife, Kathleen Polanowicz, formerly served as chairman of the Northboro selectmen and is the district director for Mr. Patrick’s friend, U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester.